


Meeting A Legend

by silkmoth



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Merlin (BBC)
Genre: Crossover, Established Relationship, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-10
Updated: 2011-01-10
Packaged: 2017-10-14 15:31:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/150775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silkmoth/pseuds/silkmoth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Snape and Harry end up in Camelot and are quickly arrested for using magic. They need Merlin's help to return to their own time before King Uther orders their execution.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Meeting A Legend

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Accioslash](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Accioslash).



**Meeting A Legend**

“Good one, Potter.”

“Shut up, Severus! You can try and help me out here.”

“Why should I? It’s all your fault.”

“My fault? You made that potion, I only…”

“Stumbled into me? Yes. I made the potion _to take a look_ into the past. I certainly didn’t want to end up… here. Wherever that is.”

“It certainly isn’t where you wanted to take a look at. They’re not exactly open-minded about wizards.”

“What clued you in, Potter? The swords, the guards yelling ‘don’t move or you will be killed right now’ or these nice dungeons here. The dungeons you fail to get us out of.”

“I don’t know what it is… nothing I do works here. Maybe you could try _something_?”

“Potter, if you can’t do it, I can’t do it. And you know what will happen if we both try something together. We will kill each other in such a confined space.”

“What’s with calling me ‘Potter’ the whole time?”

“That would be the first hint from me that you will never get any in your whole life again. Potter.”

“Aw. I don’t know how long I will live without getting it on with you.”

“Hm. As far as my experience goes, not long.”

“Merlin! Why do you have to make such an arse out of yourself anytime we…”

“Excuse me… what did you just say?”

***

Both wizards spun around to stare at a young man standing in front of that blasted barred dungeon door. A young man who was staring right back at them. He had dark hair, slightly protruding ears, big blue eyes and he was, as Harry noticed with a sigh, very tall. Almost as tall as Severus.

“Oh, now who is that? You’re a little young to be from the Inquisition.”

“Inqui… what?”

Harry cringed even before Severus opened his mouth again.

“You’re also too stupid to be from the Inquisition. But I will make it easy for you. We will just confess. Yes, we are both wizards. And yes, we fuck each other. Oh, I stand corrected, we used to. Now, will that get me burned or will I get thrown into a river with some heavy stones bound to my feet?”

If the boy’s eyes got any bigger, they would probably pop out his head.

Throwing a murderous glance at his lover, Harry raised both hands.

“Ahhh…. Don’t listen to him, alright? He’s… difficult. So, I’m Harry and his name’s Severus.” Harry smiled engagingly. After all, this was the first person who didn’t act like a lunatic towards them. “Would you tell me your name?”

“I thought you already knew my name.”

“What?”

“When I came here, you called out to me.”

Harry slowly looked over to Severus. The longhaired man was just shaking his head and leaning back against the stone wall behind him. Okay, not a _hostile_ lunatic, but a lunatic nonetheless.

“Er… I can’t really remember. Would you mind…?”

“My name is Merlin.”

Harry was very sure his mouth was hanging open, but there wasn’t a thing he could do about it. But the really bizarre thing was that obviously not even Snape could say anything. There was dead silence behind Harry.

***

Thankfully, the silence didn’t last long; Harry would have started to worry otherwise.

“Oh, of course you are. The comic book version.” Severus moved to Harry’s side and spat, “Weasley! This has Weasley written all over it.”

Harry looked up at his lover, still speechless. He _really_ hoped Severus had it right, but he doubted it. Nothing one of the Weasleys could come up with would explain the magic resisting dungeon wall. But still… if _this_ guy was Merlin, _The_ Merlin, Harry would lose his mind. Like, right now.

“What’s a comic book version?”

Snape snarled. “You are! But I’m game. So… this is Camelot then? And Arthur is the Baby King? And you are the great…”

“Arthur isn’t King. Uther is.”

“Uther!”

“Yes. And that’s why you’re in trouble. The King isn’t home yet but…”

“Well, Uther should be your bosom buddy. Just tell him to release…”

“Hey!” The boy… Merlin hissed. “You’re talking treason, man! Bosom buddy? Are you insane?”

“Am I insane? You have no idea who you’re talking to! I will show you…”

“Shut up, Severus.”

Harry ignored the other man’s furious glance; he had a certain feeling of doom. This didn’t feel like a set-up of sorts, this felt real. Mythology… stuff like that always bites one in the ass. Harry sighed.

“Okay, Merlin. We may have a problem here. Maybe you can help us out? We mean no harm, believe me. You are Arthur’s wizard, or Uther’s and…”

Harry broke off when he saw the boy’s face losing every bit of color. Merlin shook his head quite desperately, backed off two steps and looked around. Then he came back close to the door and whispered, “Are you crazy? You want to get me killed? Magic is forbidden here, under the penalty of death!”

“Excuse me?”

“Gods, where are you from to not know this?”

Harry looked once again at Severus. He had no idea how to answer that question. Fuck, this was their own timeline here… everything he said could screw with their future. But while Harry was still sorting through the mess in his head, Severus started to talk and he obviously didn’t give a shit about timelines and the end of the world as they knew it.

“Listen, you little twit, let’s just assume you’re telling the truth, which would be preposterous beyond your imagination, we’re not from some _where_ , we’re from some _time_. As in from the future, thanks to that moron over here.”

“Severus, I really don’t think…”

“Shut up, Potter,” Severus snarled and walked up close to the dungeon door and the boy behind it. The boy –Merlin- shrank back two steps and Harry couldn’t blame him. His lover was beyond furious and not only because the Great Merlin proved to be not what either of them had been expecting; no, Severus was livid because he felt impotent. Nothing he or Harry had tried in the last hours had done a thing to their surroundings; it was like their magic didn’t work here.

“So, _Merlin_ , I really hope for your sake that you can get us out of here. Because if you don’t, I will shout from the rooftops that you’re a wizard. And that wouldn’t be so good, would it? When magic is really _outlawed_.”

Harry hastened to get between Severus and the boy before his lover tried to hex him, but he shouldn’t have worried. All of a sudden, the boy lost his scared behavior and came forward again, standing nose to nose with Severus. Eyes blazing gold, he hissed, “you want to threaten me? _You_ have no idea who _I_ am! I could kill you right now and no one would say a word about it! But… go ahead, yell it from the landing where you will lose your head! If you think that anyone…”

“Whoa, whoa! Please cool down, okay?” Harry asked, while at the same time yanking his lover a few steps back. Turning to him, he said, “Severus, let me handle this, okay?”

“You want to handle this guy? My pleasure, go ahead!”

Snape stalked back into the corner of their cell that was furthest away from them, obviously seething with rage. Harry sighed, took off his glasses to rub his eyes and then turned around again, facing the young man at the other side of the door. Merlin was still staring angrily at Severus, and for the first time, Harry could _feel_ the magic from the other wizard sizzling over his skin. Unbelievingly strong magic. Harry swallowed; there was no way around it, this _was_ Merlin.

“Look, don’t hold it against him. We’re both a little out of our depths here, obviously. As I said, we really mean no harm. We just want to go back where we came from.”

“And where would that be?”

“Uh, from Scotland.“

“Where?”

“I don’t think that… region exists here. It’s far in the north.”

“Northumberland?”

“Er… no. I don’t think so. It’s a very harsh part of Great Britain.”

“You mean Albion?”

Harry stared frustrated at the other man who stared back quite as dissatisfied. Great. Due to Severus’ interest, Harry had read quite a bit about this time but he kinda skipped the geographic parts because they had bored him to death. And he knew there would be no sense at all asking Severus right now; if his lover would speak another word with him the whole day he would count himself lucky.

“Maybe it isn’t that important _where_ we are from… as Severus said, we’re from… the future.” Harry drew his shoulders up a bit; it sounded so insane to his own ears and he couldn’t stop thinking about that movie, _Back to the Future_. He gritted his teeth and continued. “So you see, it wouldn’t really be all so great to tell you too much about it… the more we tell you, the more our own future could be influenced by it.”

With a cringe, he looked up at the other wizard, expecting at least an unbelieving glare. But Merlin looked almost… pensive. Encouraged by that, Harry rambled on. “We need to find a way to go back to our time soon; the longer we stay here… well, you know. But we can’t seem to use our magic or we would have been gone by now. For some reason, we can’t even get out of these dungeons.”

“Uther had the dungeons and a lot of chains spelled by a very powerful sorceress, many years ago. That’s why you can’t get out; you’d have to be a powerful warlock to overcome the spells.”

Harry heard Severus’ hissing over the distance and prayed that his lover would keep his mouth shut. Nothing good would come from telling the other wizard that…

“Why is he looking like that?”

Glancing over to Severus, Harry sighed. With the hissing came a facial expression Harry had last seen in Potion class in Sixth year, before the war had ripped all of them apart. Great. Fucking great.

“Er… you see in our time, we’re considered powerful wizards. But again, our magic doesn’t work here. You can overcome these spells?”

“Yes.”

“Could you please help us out then?”

Merlin hesitated, then said, “Well, firstly I can’t just blast the door open. It’s kinda noisy and if the guards think you are strong enough to escape from the King’s dungeons, they would kill you on the spot. Secondly, what will you do when you get out of here? Where will you go? And thirdly, I’m still not sure about you two… how do I know you’re not dark warlocks?”

Bugger. Harry threw another look at Severus, thinking _thank you so much, daaahling!_ Sighing again, Harry said, “Merlin, can you tell me how to prove that we’re not? If you can come up with something I’ll do it.”

The young wizard looked back and forth between Harry and Severus for awhile, then backed off slowly. Harry clasped the bars on the door and whispered urgently, “Hey! Where are you going?”

“I have to talk about this with… someone. I’ll be back in a few hours.”

“But…”

“Nothing will happen to you until tomorrow. The King isn’t home right now. Just wait until I’m back.”

With that, Merlin vanished from his view and Harry leaned his forehead against the door. Fuck.

***

“Give me your wand.”

“You’re joking, Potter, right? No.”

“Maybe I can do something with a wand, so…”

“No.”

“Why the hell not?”

“Because I _know_ when I give it to you, the next words I will hear will be _I’m so sorry, Severus._ And if that twit really manages to get us out of here I will need my wand to make a potion. So… no.”

Harry crossed his arms. About an hour after Merlin had left, he was angry at himself. Again and again, he had thrown his considerable magical power against the walls, the door, even the ceiling and the floor. Nothing.

“I don’t know why it isn’t working! I can feel it bouncing off the walls! Fuck!”

Snape watched him for a moment, then sneered slightly.

“What is it, Potter? Have you become so used to being the most powerful wizard on Earth?”

 _That_ stung. Feeling hurt, Harry turned around to the man sitting on his left side.

“You know that’s not what this is about! Why do you…?”

“Harry.” Severus raised a hand and reached out for him. “Come here.”

“Why? You said no PDAs here. I quote: _Who knows how these dunderheads will react to us being queer?_ ”

“Come here.”

Harry went. Going down on one knee beside Severus, he asked, “What?”

His lover looked at him for a few seconds, then he suddenly smiled. Not a sneering smile this time, a _real_ smile.

“Harry, I’m sure you _could_ get us out of here.”

“Don’t you listen? I’m telling you I can’t…”

“Harry. You could bring this whole castle down… if you were scared enough.”

“What do you mean?”

“Spells don’t work here; believe me I have tried every spell I know. The magic here… it’s different from ours. Or from mine.” Snape sighed. “Since I’m sure you’ve slept through every History of Magic class you’ve ever attended, I’ll try to explain a vast topic with a few words. We’re talking about Old Religion magic here, bound to the four elements, Water, Earth, Fire, Air. That's why I can't do any magic in this cell. You, however, are still able to use your magic to a degree, but it's not enough.”

“But…”

“I think you are the last one in our time who still has elemental magic; but you learned to rely on your wand and the spells you know. Only when things are way beyond hopeless, you use it… unconsciously, I would think. Or do I have to remind you of the last time you did that, with quite startling results?”

Harry stared at his lover, swallowing hard. He did not want to be reminded of that moment of… chaos, of… _Blood. Blood everywhere. “Look at me.” He’s dying, no Gods, he’s dying, he can’t die he’s not allowed to die not yet never he can’t…_

“Harry.”

Harry snapped out of one of his worst memories, realizing that Severus had drawn him into a tight embrace. Closing his eyes, he pressed his ear even closer onto the other man’s chest to listen to his heartbeat. “I’m sorry.”

“For what? For ripping me back from death? For killing each and every Death Eater and as a bonus Voldemort in about a second? Nothing to be sorry for.”

Eyes still closed, Harry clutched Severus tighter. That hadn’t been what he was sorry for… as Severus very well knew. That awful day had been almost ten years ago and still Harry felt the need from time to time – no, quite often actually – to just hear his lover’s heartbeat. _That_ had been the reason for his apology, never mind the fact that this was the only mushy gesture Severus let him get away with without saying a single word. Feeling Severus’ fingers combing through his hair, Harry relaxed completely into the embrace for a moment, before he begrudgingly opened his eyes and sat up again.

“So, what do you think will happen now?”

“It depends on to whom… _that boy_ … will speak. Maybe there is another wizard in disguise living here. Would make sense if you think about it… he’s far too young to be on his own.”

“I thought he would talk to Arthur… they are supposed to be close, aren’t they?”

“Potter, would you please think before you speak? If that boy is Merlin, Arthur can’t be much more than a baby right now.” Severus stood up, all agitated again. “Still, the timing isn’t right… if Arthur is born already, and he obviously is, because that guy knew about him… then Merlin should be much older than he is. After all, he’s supposed to raise the Once and Future King.” Severus sighed. “On the other hand, the boy was scared to death of Uther, and that doesn’t make sense either. He should be a close friend to him.”

“Severus, maybe the books had it all wrong?”

The tall wizard stared down at Harry quite indignantly –his books had just been insulted- and then sighed again.

“I think we will find out soon enough.”

***

Harry came out of his slight doze by the sound of someone clearing their throat quietly. He tried to turn around but was hindered immediately by the dead weight of Severus sleeping on top of his chest. Moving carefully, he dislodged his lover onto the makeshift pillow made out of Severus’ robes and finally faced the person standing behind the barred door. Merlin was there again, looking at them full of interest, beckoning Harry.

After he trotted over, Harry said, “I’m glad you came back,” surpressing a yawn.

“I said I would,” Merlin answered, eyes still going back and forth between Harry and the still sleeping Severus.

Harry bit his lips. “Are you bothered by the fact that we’re… lovers?”

To his astonishment, the other wizard started to laugh at once. “No, believe me, I’m not.” Still grinning, Merlin continued, “Quite the opposite, to be honest. I’m very sure that _you_ have no sinister intentions; I can feel your magic and it’s purpose. I wasn’t so sure about your… companion. I can feel his magic too, but it’s different from what I’ve felt from others till now. It’s far more in the shadows than yours; but, as I said, the fact that you’re lovers reassures me somewhat.”

Harry stared at Merlin; he felt stripped down to the bone. While it wasn’t unusual to feel _some_ information about other wizards, in his world one could tell the power but certainly not intentions of any kind. Swallowing, he said, “I promise you, he isn’t a dark wizard. He has just an… interesting personality.”

“Now, don’t hurt yourself, Potter.”

“And he’s awake… obviously,” Harry sighed.

Merlin made a sound close to a giggle. Addressing Severus, he said, “Well, maybe you could join us here?”

With a face like a cat that just got stroked the wrong way, Snape stalked over to them.

“So, have you come up with a rescue plan now, or what?”

Harry rubbed the bridge of his nose _again_ , groaning inwardly. While he loved Severus’ sharp tongue and his total refusal to conform to any social behaviour, sometimes he wished… whatever. Didn’t matter anyway.

Merlin watched Harry’s lover for some time, smiling slightly. Then he shook his head and said, “You know, right now you remind me of someone else. And I think neither you nor he would be flattered by that comparison. Anyway, yes I have. Here, take these.” Merlin handed them two little sponges. Smelly sponges. Harry sniffed cautiously, crinkling his nose.

“Yes, I know they don’t smell nice if you’re not used to it. I had them soaked in…”

“Lavender oil,” Severus said. “Pure lavender oil. And it doesn’t smell bad at all.”

“Right.” Merlin smiled again. “That’s what Gaius would have said. I can’t say I like the smell of it.”

“Gaius? Is that the other wizard you were talking to?”

“What? No! Man, stop saying things like that, alright? I’m sure where you come from people are used to magic but if someone overhears you saying something like this here and now, Gaius would lose his head at once. So try and be careful, okay?” Merlin groused.

Before the two of them could get into another fight, Harry stepped in.

“Believe me, we will remember from now on. So, this Gaius will help us?”

“No. I didn’t talk to him. Gaius is the court physician, an old man, and I most certainly won’t worry him with this.”

“And who did you worry with this?”

Merlin hesitated for a moment, then he sighed. “Arthur.”

Harry threw a triumphant glance at Severus who huffed at once. “Arthur? What, you’re talking to a child about this?”

“A what? Arthur is two years older than me!”

Harry crossed his arms, smirking, and leaned sideways against the stone wall. He _loved_ it when he was right and Severus was wrong. It happened so rarely that he was –despite the circumstances- wallowing a bit. Especially when he saw his lover’s eyes were closing in defeat.

“Look, maybe we should go on with what will happen tonight? The moment you smell something funny, keep your mouths and noses covered with the sponges. When the guards are out, we’ll come and free you; Arthur has the keys to the dungeons. Then we will get you out of the castle to one of Arthur’s hunting huts and there we will talk, alright?”

“Explain _’smell something funny’_ ,” Severus demanded.

“You will know it when you smell it, believe me. Don’t forget the sponges, we can’t carry you out of here.” Merlin looked around. “Listen, I have to go now. Around midnight, we’ll be back. Try not to fall asleep again.” With that, he jogged off.

“Smell something funny,” Severus griped. “Great plan.”

***

“That’s ‘smelling something funny’?” Severus wheezed behind the sponge. “The twit wants to kill us! This is sulfur dioxide! What, they have an old truck down here?”

Harry just shook his head slightly, trying to cough as quietly as possible. He had trouble seeing; the smoke seemed to gather behind his glasses and made his eyes water terribly and his throat sting. Hoping their rescuers would appear soon, he kept close to the door, although the fumes were almost unbearable.

“Come back here, imbecile! You want to get poisoned?”

If he still could speak, maybe Severus had been right to stay behind at the wall with the windows. Wavering a bit, Harry started to turn around when he heard the sound of a key turning in the dungeon door. Two hooded figures, one with a brown cloak, the other with a black one, appeared, motioning to them urgently. Before Harry could even blink, Severus was beside him, taking his arm and dragging him out of their cell.

The black clothed man pointed to the right side, and Harry stumbled behind Severus into the direction the smoke was coming from. He really wished he had a free hand to rip his glasses off but he doubted it would be a wise idea to remove the sponge from his face right now.

There were quite a few corridors, one leading to a small round room with high walls and a winding stone staircase that would take one to an upper level, if one desired. Despite the fumes, Harry could make out five guards lying on the floor around a wooden table, obviously unconscious. He also saw several linen bags lying there; they seemed to emit the smoke. In the next moment, he got a hard shove into his back, making him almost fall in the tunnel to their right side. Somehow he managed to keep his footing and as he scrambled ahead, he suddenly heard his lover’s voice.

“Beg your pardon. Not that I care but do you want these men dead? If not I would suggest getting them out of there.”

The guy in the brown robe swore quietly and the one with the black cape hissed, “I told you, you overdid it!”

Alright, that had been Merlin. Harry looked over to the other man who had to be Arthur then, and cursed his inability to see clearly. In spite of the nasty circumstances, he was curious about the Once and Future King.

“Then do something about it, idiot!” Arthur growled in Merlin’s direction, giving Harry the first inkling about whom Merlin had compared Severus to a few hours ago. Great, that was just what they needed, another misanthropic bastard.

Merlin hissed something in return that Harry didn’t understand, then raised a hand. The next second, a gust of wind blew through the corridors, whipping through their hair and taking the smoke away.

“Now, go on, go on! We have no time!” Arthur snarled, ripping the cloth over his mouth and nose away, revealing an attractive but oh so young face. And while all four of them broke out into a dead run and although Harry knew how insane it was, he still marvelled about the fact that neither Arthur nor Merlin had a beard.

***

They ended up in front of more iron bars, but these were easily pushed aside by Arthur. Obviously this escape route wasn’t new.

“Wait here!” Arthur hissed as he grabbed Merlin’s arm and dragged him around one with an ivy covered corner.

“Well, they got us out,” Severus said. “But honestly… I don’t believe it. Children!”

Harry looked up at his lover and smiled. “And thanks to you, no one died.” He rose on his tiptoes and kissed the other man’s cheek. Before Severus could huff or snarl or whatever, Harry continued. “I would like to know what’s going on now. After that storm, the guards will wake soon enough. We have to get going _somewhere_.”

The moment Severus opened his mouth to respond, Harry heard a whistle and then “Hey! Come on!”

“I guess that means us.” Harry shook his head. “You know, the Once and Future King has a charming personality.”

“I still can’t believe they’re Arthur and Merlin. You know, I wish I’d never made that potion,” Severus replied, while they were sneaking around the stone wall.

Then several things happened at almost the same time. Harry just barely avoided banging into the biggest horse he had ever seen; Arthur, standing beside another horse with Merlin already on it, griped “What were you waiting for?”, and all of a sudden, a third man, clad all in black, appeared behind some bushes, coming towards them quickly. Severus reacted immediately, drawing his wand.

“ _Stupefy!_ ”

While the stranger went down, Harry stared at Severus’ wand. Sparks in every color flew from it; he had never seen anything like this before. Harry had just enough time to think _at least the spell worked_ when his lover fell backward, pummelled by a furious Arthur.

“What have you done to my knight? I’ll kill you, you bastard!”

 

***

 

Some time later, sitting on a cot in a wooden hut and holding his still aching head, Harry wondered how they all had managed to survive the last hours.

He could remember how he had jumped on top of Arthur to pull him off Severus, then he had been literally _flying_ through the air, backhanded from the future king. Things had gotten a little blurry after that. There had been multicolored sparks again (probably from Severus’ wand), shying horses, his own magic lashing out at Arthur and then finally Merlin’s yells. After that, everything had become dark.

Harry had woken up again to his lover’s swearing. For awhile, he had wondered why the world was swaying and then he realized he was on horseback, held up tightly by Severus’ arm. This had also been the explanation for Severus’ curses; he _hated_ horses. To be honest, Severus hated every animal bigger than a cat.

As soon as his lover had noticed Harry was awake, he had started ranting.

“That was a great idea, Potter, attacking the blond child. I would have managed fine on my own, thank you very much.”

“What happened? I can’t remember what…”

“You still remember what I told you about the Old Magic? I’m sorry to tell you this, but little Merlin is better at it than you. He noticed you attacking Arthur and launched a counterattack at your magic. Yours and his smashed into each other exactly over the place Arthur and I were struggling. The _idiot_. I told him I just knocked the other guy out but he wouldn’t listen. And hell, Potter… as far as I can tell everyone lost consciousness, except for Merlin and _maybe_ one of these giant beasts.” Severus pointed at their horse. “Even the knight Arthur wanted to save went down again.”

“What? He was awake again? How…?”

“I don’t know. Maybe you’ve noticed the lovely colors coming from my wand? The spell may have worked, but not for long. Can’t say the same for Arthur and I. And you… you were down for the count for almost an hour.”

Harry could hear the barely surpressed concern in his lover’s voice, but he also could hear something else; grudging admiration. He smiled.

“He did impress you, didn’t he?”

Severus growled. “He would have impressed me more if he had taken down the guards with it and not you. Can you maybe explain to me why they almost poisoned everyone down there if he’s capable of knocking out everyone with one thought?”

“Maybe you have been right… you said yourself, he is awfully young. He can’t be very experienced, can he?” Harry turned slightly to look at his lover, and froze. Severus’ face was bruised all over, the lower lip had been bleeding profusely. Harry became furious and it must have shown on his face, because his lover smirked at him. “You really shouldn’t start the next catfight over my _horrible wounds_ , Potter. After all, you should see your own face. And if I’m able to restrain myself, so should you.”

His own face? Harry raised his hand to touch the left side of his face which felt somehow weird and immediately drew his fingers back when they touched his left eye. Ow.

“Quite the shiner you have there.”

“Couldn’t you maybe do something about…” Harry broke off, remembering the colorful sparks.

“Yes. And accidentally hex your head off. I don’t think so.”

Harry sighed. Well, that, besides the headache, explained why he had real trouble concentrating on more important things, like where they were right now. He just opened his mouth to ask when he heard the whinnying of a horse not far ahead.

“What…?”

“I guess we’ve arrived at our destination. Wherever that is… we’ve been riding for almost an hour through the woods and if you ask me, this mist isn’t a natural phenomenon.”

Their _destination_ had been a wooden hunting hut with a cot inside, on which Harry just sat, coming back from his musings. Still rubbing the left side of his head with one hand, he looked up and watched Severus and Merlin, who were deep in a conversation about potion ingredients, for over an hour now, as far as Harry could tell. It was kind of weird to see how amiable his lover now acted towards the other wizard, considering that they started out entirely on the wrong foot. Maybe it had to do with the fact that Merlin was scribbling everything Severus said down and was nodding quite eagerly. He was even smiling, Harry thought sourly.

While Harry was still watching the two men, Arthur came back into the hut, also looking at the two wizards. His face had the same expression as his own, or so Harry suspected. Huffing, the Once and Future King turned towards Harry and sat down beside him with a sigh. Then Arthur looked at him.

“Er… sorry for that,” he said, pointing at Harry’s eye.

“Forget it. That had all been one hell of a misunderstanding.”

“So this Snape guy said.”

Harry bristled. “You could have told us about the other guy! How did you think we would react when he suddenly appeared behind the bushes?”

“Peace,” Arthur said, raising his hands. “It was all a little bit rushed and I wasn’t exactly happy thinking I almost killed the guards. To be honest, I wasn’t happy at all about the whole rescue mission. I don’t like warlocks, and though I trusted Merlin when he said you meant no harm, I lost my confidence when I thought your companion killed Gawain. I’m protective of my knights, I lost too many the last year and Gawain is my youngest knight, so…” Arthur broke off, obviously due to the look on Harry’s face.

“What?”

“That was Gawain?”

“Yes… why, you know him?”

Harry stared at Arthur; he was still unsure how to answer questions like this. Especially when he was insane enough to think _again_ : Gawain had no mustache.

“Now, don’t be shy. Merlin already explained to me you’re from the… _future_.” The way Arthur spat out this word told Harry volumes about what Arthur thought about this explanation. “I just have real trouble believing you would know the name of one of my knights.”

“Er… in our time, your knights are also quite famous.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Look, I know this is hard to believe… same for me, actually. I can’t believe I’m sitting right next to _you_.”

Arthur looked at him for awhile thoughtfully and then he said softly, “If you know Gawain’s name, I guess that means he will stay alive until I’m king, at least.”

Harry swallowed, then swallowed again. For the first time, he saw bright intelligence in the other man’s eyes and he really didn’t want to deal with Arthur and the past and the present and the whole fucked up Arthurian Legend and what it will bring to this young man beside him. He certainly didn’t want to tell him about…

“We’re done!”

Harry and Arthur both looked up at Merlin standing in front of them, practically vibrating with pent-up energy, a pell in hand. Severus came up behind him, asking, “You sure you can bring leeches and banewort?”

“Absolutely, that’s no problem. We’ll be back tomorrow, before noon. Arthur! Come on, we have to be back before your father arrives!”

Arthur shook his head slowly, standing up. “Of course, my lord. Whatever you say, my lord.”

Merlin laughed, jostled the Once and Future King, in his eyes a look of… love. While the two men waved goodbye and left the hut, Harry’s mouth was in danger of dropping open again. _Fuck me running_ , he thought. _Now that’s another thing the books hadn’t mentioned_.

***

“I really hope that this _physician_ has all I’ve asked for. Otherwise we will spend the rest of our days here.”

Harry, still staring at the now closed door, marvelled about the fact that these two were obviously lovers. But… what about Guinevere? And Morgan le Fay, Arthur’s half-sister? Well, maybe the Once and Future King wasn’t gay, maybe he was bisexual? After all, he had a son with his sister and this son… Gods. Harry couldn’t help it, he doubted this young, strangely innocent appearing man already had a son, let alone a son with his sister. But then…

“Potter? You’re still with me?”

“Yeah. I was just… thinking. Don’t say it!”

His lover didn’t even smirk. Arms crossed, wand protruding from his right hand, Severus went back and forth over the loamy ground. Finally having found whatever he had been looking for, he pointed the wand at the floor, mumbling a spell. Sparks were flying and then some _sort of_ fireplace appeared, with a crooked iron bar dangling above it.

Harry winced at the same time Snape started cursing.

“Now, it’s not that bad.”

“High praise indeed, Potter.”

“It will work, Severus. But not if you do _that!_ ” Harry groused when his lover kicked at the bar, making it swing dangerously. “What were you going for, beauty or functionality?”

“It’s a disgrace, that’s what it is.”

Harry sat down on the small cot, rubbing his face. Mer… Gods, he was tired. “You know, I will never be able so say _Merlin!_ again in my whole life.”

“Hm.” A new rain of sparks, and the stones around the fireplace turned blue. Harry rolled his eyes.

“You should be glad your magic is working at all. Aren’t you tired?”

“No.” Snape circled the fireplace, looking as if the thing had just insulted him. Harry sighed and let himself fall sideways, grabbing the blanket and pulling it over him.

“Well, I am.”

“Then sleep.”

Harry tried. He really did, but hell, it wasn’t easy. His head hurt, probably from all the polluted air he had breathed in today on top of the blow it had taken. His skin itched all over from the scratchy blanket and the cot was uncomfortable, to say the least. Berating himself for becoming quite the princess, he still couldn’t help longing for their big bed in Hogwarts, for their firm mattress, for the silken bed clothes. And for his companion. Harry opened his eyes again and watched Severus, who was still staring at his wobbly construction.

“I’m cold.”

“I really doubt that.”

“I am. And I can’t sleep when I’m cold.”

Finally, Severus looked up, threw a calculating glance at Harry - _he really didn’t have to look so put out, did he?_ \- and arched an eyebrow. “Cold, huh?”

“Very.”

A whole new expression appeared on the other man’s face, and while Harry watched his lover stalk towards him, he felt his heart beating faster. He would never ever tire of this particular look in Severus’ eyes.

As Snape shrugged off his robe, Harry shed his t-shirt and wriggled out of his black jeans and white boxers, swearing slightly about the renewed feeling of scratchy wool. Only seconds later the blanket got pulled off, his lover’s robes landed beside him and Severus on top of him. Delightfully breathless, Harry looked up at him and said, “Now that’s better already.”

“Already? Do you expect something more?”

“Fun…” Harry’s response was cut off by Severus’ mouth lowering down on his. Harry’s lips opened immediately to let the kiss deepen. Gods, he had craved that contact, had missed the feel and taste of his lover. Severus had been right; he wouldn’t survive long without having this. He started to tear at the other man’s shirt, fumbling with the buttons just to be diverted by Severus’ hands gripping his and holding them above his head. Harry groaned, his hips bucking slightly against his lover’s stomach.

“Patience is a virtue, you know?”

Harry just moaned some more, feeling goose bumps breaking out over his naked body when he felt that deep voice saying _something_ against his neck. He heard his partner laughing quietly. “Not today, then.”

With that, Severus was sliding down on Harry’s body, his mouth hovering millimeters over Harry’s straining erection. The young man shuddered again at the feel of his lover’s breath gliding over it and then he grabbed Severus’ hair, pulling his head towards him over the remaining distance. The wet mouth closed over him, going down, down, until he got swallowed whole and fuck, fuck, this wouldn’t take long if Severus didn’t stop… he felt Severus start to suck. Harry’s whole body came off the cot, hands still buried in his lover’s hair. Gods… tongue rubbing him exactly _there_ and he couldn’t… he couldn’t…

“Fuck!” Head thrown back as far as it could, Harry flew apart in about thousand directions, clinging to the dark hair and most probably ripping whole strands out.

Moaning and wheezing, Harry came down some time later and opened his eyes, just to look directly into the smug face of his lover. His _fully clothed_ lover.

“Feeling warm now?”

“What the…? You want to kill me?”

“No, not really.”

Snape lowered his head again, bestowing gentle kisses on Harry’s cheek and neck, and really, it didn’t get any more marvellous than this. Harry stroked down over Severus’ back, promising himself that he would take care of his lover the moment he would be able to catch his breath.

That was actually the last thought he had before he slipped into sleep.

***

“You could have woken me up!”

“You said you were tired. I’ll wager you needed the sleep.”

Harry glared at his lover who was _again_ standing beside the much better looking fireplace. Then he blinked because glaring wasn’t easy when the room was glinting in the morning sun.

“And… what would you call what you were doing? The adult version of a lullaby?”

“What is it with you, Potter? Why are you so upset?”

“Because…” Harry trailed off. He wasn’t sure why he was so angry, he just knew he was. It certainly hadn’t been the first time in the last six years he had zonked out on Severus after having a teeth-rattling orgasm. But firstly, it had been a while since that happened and secondly, he resented it that his lover hadn’t been there right beside him to be jumped as he woke up. It was almost like Severus had carried out some sort of _duty_ before going back to the more important task at hand… preparing everything perfectly for the return of the Great Merlin.

Harry sighed, rubbed his eyes some more and put on his glasses. His nerves were apparently shot to hell. He wasn’t really jealous now, was he? That would be beyond stupid, not to mention embarrassing; he _knew_ he could trust Severus completely. Still… he hadn’t liked the way Merlin had looked at his lover last night.

“Hey.”

Harry glanced up and saw the other man crouched down in front of him. Severus watched him for a moment, then laid a hand on Harry’s cheek.

“Do I want to know?”

“No, you don’t, believe me.”

Feeling his lover’s thumb stroking back and forth over his lips, Harry leaned forward and almost fell into an embrace and a kiss. He clutched the man in his arms tighter, deepening the kiss at once, sucking softly on the other tongue. Severus moaned quietly and that noise kind of jump-started Harry’s cock. Moaning himself now, he tried to pull his lover even closer just to feel him retreating. For a moment, he clung to Severus shoulders, then he let him go, asking, “What now?”

“I hear horses coming.”

“Great.”

“Harry…”

“No, no.”

Harry grabbed his t-shirt and put it on; then he fumbled around until he spotted his jeans and boxers under Severus’ robes which were still lying on the cot, a crumpled mess.

“Let’s hope it’s not someone else out there.”

“Yes, let’s hope for that. I want to go home!” Harry snapped and jumped up, pulling up his pants. Having achieved that, he marched over to the door barefooted, ripping it open. And there they were.

Literally bouncing towards Harry, Merlin chirped a “Good Morning!” at him, vanished inside the hut and started _immediately_ gushing over the most perfect fireplace he had ever seen. Fucking morning people.

***

Thankfully, Arthur appeared to be in exactly the same mood Harry was in; he looked annoyed and tired and was dragging the biggest cauldron Harry had ever seen filled with whatever behind him.

“Morning,” he grunted, heaving the cauldron into the cabin.

“Same,” Harry answered, stretching his arms over his head. He knew it was childish, but he refused to help with the potion. Not that he would be so useful anyway, but still… Severus could make do with Merlin.

Harry sat down on a wooden bench in front of the hut, closed his eyes and tried to enjoy the morning sun. He had no luck. After a few minutes he was seething because no Severus had appeared to look for his whereabouts. Shaking his head full of self-disgust, he dropped his face into his hands. He was not used to being jealous, he thought bitterly. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad lesson after all. He had always made fun of his lover when he –seldom- caught him giving other wizards who came a little too close to Harry, the evil eye. Harry was self-aware enough to know that his power drew other wizards like moths to a flame. And now he was confronted with a more powerful wizard than himself and promptly feared that his lover would somehow… Harry stopped himself. That was complete bullshit. Severus would never even think about Merlin in that way; the only thing going on here were his own insecurities. He could remember his lover saying, _“What is it, Potter? Have you become so used to being the most powerful wizard on Earth?”_. Maybe Severus hadn’t been so wrong about that after all.

Harry took a deep breath; he would stop acting like an idiot right now. He would go in the hut and observe the progress the other two wizards were making. After all, if everything went right, they would be home in a few hours. He was just starting to heave himself up when Arthur shot out of the hut with a face like a wounded bear. Harry sat down again. Maybe it wasn’t the best time to go in there.

Arthur spotted him and came over, thunder in his eyes.

“You’re his lover? Why? I would really like to know before I kill him!”

Great. “What did he say to you?”

“It isn’t so much _what_ he’s said, it’s more how he speaks to me! He’s a condescending, arrogant bastard! Not to mention that he calls me –ME!- an idiot, an imbecile… you think that’s funny?”

Harry tried to surpress his smile, without luck. “In a way. Look, sit down here and just wait it out. Severus is difficult, even more so when he’s working on a potion. An important potion. Don’t get mad, just stay out of his way. He calls me every name in the book when things get difficult.” Harry reconsidered for a moment. “Actually, he always calls me stuff like that. It’s nothing personal.”

“Nothing personal, huh?” Arthur asked, while sitting down. “You must be good-natured to stand someone like him.”

Harry turned to the other man and said sharply, “And Merlin has to be really good-natured too, if he can stand a lover like you! So stop calling the kettle black, alright?”

“Excuse me?”

“What, are you deluding yourself thinking you have a sunny disposition? I remember that you called Merlin an idiot. Quite a few times actually in the short time we’ve known each other. And if you think Severus would be impressed by the fact you’re a future king, you’ve got another think coming!”

“I didn’t mean… how do you know that… Merlin and I…” Arthur broke off, blushing all over.

Harry, who had all been ready to rumble, deflated like a balloon.

“Er… it’s obvious?” Seeing at once that this had been the worst thing to say, Harry rambled on. “For someone who knows what to look for. Someone who, well, er… also has a male lover?”

“In the time you come from it’s probably normal. But here… my father would… actually, I don’t even know what my father would do.”

Harry huffed quietly. “It’s not easy in my time, either, believe me. Although whipping or beheading is not the norm. At least not in our country. And hey, ‘obvious’ was the wrong word. Maybe it’s obvious for me, the way you act around each other. I doubt you do that in front of the King.”

“You can bet on that.” Arthur stood up again, pacing around. “My father mustn’t ever learn of this… he would kill Merlin. I often think that…” Arthur broke off again, staring at Harry.

“You… you said you knew because it is obvious due to the way we act around each other. Does that mean you didn’t know this before? From your books about us?”

Bugger. Harry really, really started to wish this guy would be denser.

“Er… no, history hadn’t caught that, obviously. Um… can I ask you a question?”

“I think it’s better I sit down again for this. Yes, go ahead.”

“Uh, are you…?” Now how the hell should Harry phrase this?

“Just spit it out, man. I’m used to weird stuff, thanks to Merlin.”

“Do you only like men? Or…”

“And that’s concerning you why?”

Harry struggled for a few moments with his conscience; he had the feeling he was digging himself a hole here where he wouldn’t know how to get out afterwards. But his curiousity won.

“I just… do you have a half-sister? Morgan?”

“Huh? You mean Morgana? She isn’t my half-sister, she is the King’s ward. Well… she _was_ … I don’t even know if she is alive anymore.” Arthur swallowed and looked down at his feet. “She was abducted by a powerful sorceress not long ago…I don’t know.”

“Do you… uh… have a son with her?”

“WHAT? ARE YOU MAD?”

Harry raised his hands in a peaceful gesture. “Hey, hey, calm down. I was just asking because…”

“NO, I WON’T ‘CALM DOWN’! I NEVER LAID ONE HAND ON HER! AND JUST SO YOU KNOW, YOU TWIT, I’M NOT INTERESTED IN WOMEN ANYWAY!”

“Okay, okay, that’s fine, really. It means the books had it totally wrong… so there will be no Mordred and…”

“Mordred? What do you know about Mordred?” A third voice, coming from the threshold of the hut, asked.

Harry and the prince turned around to see themselves face to face with an awful looking Merlin; face pale, almost white with a few blood red spots high on his cheekbones, eyes blazing gold. Harry stared at the furious warlock, his mind blank. Again, he wasn’t sure how to answer that question, but this time, he was almost afraid to answer. It was quite evident that Merlin knew exactly who Mordred was; and it was also obvious that he considered him an enemy.

Severus’ face appeared over Merlin’s shoulder, eyebrows drawn together. He shoved the young warlock to the side and marched towards Harry; knowing his lover, Harry caught his lover’s intention to get between him and Merlin. Harry barely heard Arthur’s confused “Mordred? Wasn’t he that druid boy?” when Severus drew him back, almost into the woods. And off he went.

“Are you insane? What are you doing here, blathering about what will happen? Don’t you know how that can affect our time? I can’t believe you…”

“Hey! You… you were the one who started to tell Merlin all kind of things when we were still in the dungeons! You didn’t seem to care about the timeline at…”

“I told him _nothing_ of relevance, nothing he wouldn’t already know or find out soon. Asking Arthur about whether he is a homosexual or not, or asking him about the man who will kill him is another matter entirely!” Snape hissed. “Neither Merlin nor Arthur know about how their life story will end… and you almost changed that! Can you even imagine what that could mean?”

“Gods! I didn’t tell him Mordred will be his murderer! I…”

“No! But Merlin isn’t stupid; and he obviously already knows _something_ about Mordred… it can very well be that you already set the ball rolling. Idiot!”

With that, Severus turned around and stalked away, leaving an infuriated and at the same time scared Harry behind.

***

“You didn’t answer my first question, you know?”

Harry looked at Arthur, who was sitting beside him on the cot in the hut. For the last hour, both of them had watched Severus and Merlin tinkering around with the potion. Now it was simmering and the two wizards had stuck their heads together; Severus talking quickly about whatever and Merlin scribbling things down rapidly. Harry wondered what that was about.

“What question?”

“Why you fell in love with someone so… grumpy?”

Harry laughed. “Well, it wasn’t love at first sight, believe me.”

“How did you meet?”

“I was eleven, he was my teacher. Potions.”

“ _Eleven?_ Please don’t tell me…”

“No! No, Gods, no. I hated him. Er… it would take too long to explain everything, but since I was born I had a powerful enemy. The problem was, he was so evil, so beyond evil, that I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. And Severus, well… he was a _tangible_ person to hate. He somehow became the enemy I could fight, every day. And since he had held a grudge for my late father, and I look a lot like my father, he couldn’t stand me, too. Things were awful for years.”

“When did that change?”

“Hm. I learned something about him when I was fifteen that changed my point of view for awhile. He appeared more human, not only the hateful bastard as I saw him. But then, one year later, something terrible happened and I blamed him again. We were at war, and I… I don’t know. I was stupid. I often think… if I just had stopped for a moment and thought everything over, things would have been different.” Harry rubbed the scar on his forehead and continued. “Anyway, we were fighting, we all were fighting and lines begun to blur until I didn’t know anymore who was the enemy and who were my friends and then… Severus died. Almost died. And that changed everything. In that second I knew… I knew how I felt, I knew who he really was, I knew I was… in love with him. I somehow managed to rescue him and then… well.”

“You became lovers?”

Harry laughed again, a little ruefully this time. “No. Gods, I was seventeen and he was thirty-eight… and my former teacher. Hah… oh, I told him. Full of romantic feelings and he laughed me out of the room. “

“What?”

“Why do you even ask? Believe me, he was even more cantankerous than today. But I’m very stubborn. Still, I needed four years to convince him. I took on a position as a teacher myself at the same school and pestered him every day. Sometimes I think he just gave in to stop me.”

Harry looked at Arthur, who was smiling broadly. “Sounds… like an interesting courtship.”

“Yes, it was. How about you two?”

Arthur shrugged. “It wasn’t love at first sight either. Hell, the first time we met, I threw him in the dungeons. Then he saved my life… for the first time. He has this habit of saving me… and my father made him my manservant.”

“Did you know he was a wizard?”

“No! Gods, my father would have killed him on the spot, even if he had saved the whole kingdom. No, he didn’t tell me for ages. But, funny thing, something similar to your story happened. He almost died, and I saw the light. But firstly, I didn’t know what to do with my feelings and secondly, he didn’t exactly act as if he had any tender feelings for me.” Arthur shook his head. “We were both stupid, but we found out later. Finally.”

“When did he tell you about his magic?”

“Hah! When I confronted him. I overheard a few things, I saw a few things… Merlin thinks I’m stupid. Or better, he thought I was. I admit, I usually don’t care much about other things than learning how to rule a kingdom and training my knights, fighting the fights I have to. Merlin changed that with his way of looking at things differently and with behaving the way he does, like he doesn’t care about who someone is. He’s interested in people, not in titles. I guess you could say, he taught me to care about people.”

“Shouldn’t that have been something your father… sorry.”

“No, you’re right. It’s difficult. I love my father… but at the same time, I hate him. Too many things happened in the last two years… well, anyway, I don’t want to be a king like my father is, and that’s not something he likes to hear. So our relationship is strained, to say the least.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright. I have Merlin, and that’s the most important thing to me. And you seem to know quite a lot about him, so I think he will be around.”

“Arthur, you shouldn’t trust on this… if you’re too relaxed because you think he’s safe it could mean…”

“I know. I won’t be. He’s worth more to me than this whole kingdom… I would protect him with my life.”

Harry nodded. “I know exactly how you feel, believe me.” He looked over to his lover, who was now writing something down on a small piece of parchment. “I wonder what these two are up to now… it doesn’t look like they are still working on the potion.”

“Let’s find out, shall we?”

***

When Harry and Arthur walked over to the two wizards and the boiling cauldron, Merlin was hoarding what looked like dozens of pages, tightly scribbled with tiny letters; he looked up and grinned.

“This is so amazing! I didn’t know how much you can achieve with potions!”

Severus smirked, and Harry started to laugh. “Well, I can already see you made Severus happy. Finally someone who gives credit where credit is due.”

“Indeed. He learned more in a few hours than you ever did in school.”

Harry still smiled. “That wouldn’t be hard, would it? You always tell me I learned nothing.”

“You didn’t.”

While they grinned at each other, Arthur leaned forward and said, “Wow. What’s this?”

Harry peeked in the cauldron and almost bounced. “That’s our living room! You did it!”

“Of course I did it. And it’s even the right time… do you see the picture on the mantel? You put it there an hour before we… left.”

“And now what?”

“I would suggest we splatter each other with it and then we should be on our way,” Severus said, fetching a big spoon from the floor.

“Alright.” Harry turned around to Merlin and Arthur. “I think that means good-bye. Thank you, both of you. And please, take care of yourselves, alright?”

“You too,” Arthur answered. “I would like you to tell the people the truth about us, but I guess that wouldn’t be wise, would it?”

“No, I guess not. Severus was right; any changes could be awful, and if we start to talk about how you really are, people would like to know how we know. And that wouldn’t be fun for you, having Camelot swarming with wizards from our time.” Harry smiled at Arthur’s terrified looking face and then threw a glance at the Great Warlock. Merlin’s eyes had a strange expression in them and he smiled tight-lipped at Harry.

“Everything alright with you?” Harry asked concerned.

Merlin startled slightly, then he nodded. “Yes, sorry. I would have liked to learn more… would have liked you to stay a little bit longer. But I know that can’t be. Take care.”

Arthur and Merlin both backed off a few steps and then Severus filled the scoop with the potion and dumped it over Harry and himself.

Nothing happened.

***

“I don’t believe it!”

By now both Harry and Severus were splattered all over with the potion… they had tried it so often that only a puddle of the potion was still in the cauldron.

“Maybe the potion wasn’t…” Harry broke off, cringing when he saw his lover’s face.

“Excuse me? Could you maybe take another look? The potion is perfect! I don’t know why it isn’t working. Dammit!”

Arthur and Merlin had backed off even more, probably more because they didn’t want to get into the fight than being afraid of being splattered with the potion. Neither of them said a word.

Harry sighed. “Look, in Hogwarts I stumbled into you. Accidently. Maybe that’s the key.”

“Accidently, hm? And how should we manage that, here and now? You want to stumble into me without wanting to and I won’t wait for it? Huh?”

Harry sighed again; Severus was right, of course. No way could they… he suddenly heard Merlin mumbling something and looked up at the sorcerer. The last thing he saw was Merlin’s raised hand and Severus’ hair flying upwards. Then the cauldron toppled over with a crash and Harry was ripped away in some sort of tornado.

***

“So what? He gave you _recipes?_ You want to take up cooking?”

Merlin sighed.

“These are recipes for magic potions, prat. It’s quite fascinating… you have no idea what that guy knew. From now on, you can go ahead and get bitten by another questing beast every week… I could heal you immediately.”

Arthur looked fondly at his almost bouncing lover. Inwardly, he was glad that the two warlocks had gone to wherever they had come from; the prince may have been gotten used to his manservant being a sorcerer, but he still felt uncomfortable around _other_ warlocks, no matter how nice at least one of them had been.

While he watched Merlin going back and forth through the pages, he suddenly noticed a small piece of paper tucked between Merlin’s fore and middle finger. Grabbing it, he asked, “What’s that?”

The prince could just make out the letters _Avada…_ when Merlin snatched it back.

“It’s a spell.”

At hearing the flat voice of his lover, Arthur felt his hair stand up on end.

“What spell?”

Merlin looked at him for a minute, then lowered his eyes.

“Nothing you should concern yourself with. I will need it only once.”

***

Severus and Harry landed very hard on the floor of their chambers. While Harry jumped up and raced towards the door to look if everything was still alright in Hogwarts and their world, Snape ran over to his working place.

Harry, immensely relieved when he couldn’t detect anything different –even the Slytherin portraits in the hall glared at him exactly the way they always did- behind him heard a “HAH!”, coming from his lover.

Immediately scared, he rushed back to Severus’ side, only to see him grinning widely mumbling, “good boy”.

“What?”

“Nothing.” Still grinning.

“What do you mean, ‘nothing’? You don’t look like that if…”

Harry broke off when he noticed something strange. The cauldron with the potion was already gone as expected, but something else was missing. Harry had gotten used to the books about Merlin and Arthur, hell, he had read them all just to _not_ sound like a fool when Severus talked about the Arthurian Legend, and now he noticed one prominent book was missing. _Mordred. Bastard Son._

“Severus? Where is that book about Mordred?”

“Hm? What book?”

“Severus, you know exactly what book I’m talking about.”

His lover, nose inside another book, just shrugged. And grinned some more. Harry literally ripped the book out of Severus’ hands, only succeeding because Snape would _never_ risk one of his sacred books.

“You’re rude, Potter, you know that?”

Harry didn’t answer. He was busy turning pages back and forth, not finding what he was searching for. Finally, he looked at the last page, and closed the book with a thump.

“What did you do? What did you tell him?”

Severus tried to stare him down, without success. For a long time now Harry had been completely immune to every stare Severus could come up with. Eventually, Severus sighed.

“What would you do if you knew someone would kill me and you had the chance to ask another person who knows everything about it? Hm?”

“You told him about Mordred? What… do you remember the hissy fit you’d thrown? And now you did exactly what you told me not to do?”

“No. I did it the right way. You would have messed everything up. You already had, I just corrected a few things. You should have heard Merlin… he knew about Mordred. And he wanted to know how to kill him. So what?” Snape crossed his arms and glared – again.

Opening the book in his hands once more, Harry looked down at the last page of _Le Morte d’Arthur_ by Sir Thomas Malory and read again :

 _Old with years, Arthur commands Merlin to cast Excalibur into the lake, where it is retrieved by the hand of the Lady of the Lake. A barge appears, carrying Merlin and Arthur to Avalon, where they will live forever in youth, until the time comes when there will be need again for the Once and Future King and his companion._

Well.

“You old romantic, you.”

“Please, stop insulting me. Or sleep on the couch.”

With a huff and the usual flare of robes, Snape vanished into their bedroom. Harry smiled and closed the book. No one would sleep on the couch tonight.

The End.


End file.
